[R] two questions for R beginners

[xlr82sas]

Hi,

   I don't think you should split the list for beginners.

   On the SAS list we get questions from novices such as secretaries,
janitorial services, human resources and even top executives.

  They often approach SAS from a very intuitive standpoint. These questions
often shake the experts to the core. They ask themselves, why didn't I allow
R to do this.

For instance I novice might ask of the SAS datastep language:
    Why can't I just 
        Array X[3] ("A",1."ROGER",26) 

        You can do the above in several other integrated SAS languages
(MACRO,SCL,SAS-C,IML-sort of) at ~$5000+ per year for each except macro)

     A user asked recently
       array x[2,3,4,5] x1-x120;
        Do i=1 to 2;
          Do j=1 to 3;
            Do k=1 to 4;
              Do l=1 to 5; 
                 X&i&j&k&l = i*j*k*l;
              End;
            End;
          End;
        End;
        
        R can do this nicely with lists but SAS can do it with SCL,Macro,IML
and C. I think SAS-IML has the most intuitive solution.

        I read Nabble, perl and SAS lists religiously, what I would like to
see is one list that somehow integrated R, SAS and perl solutions. SAS users
are trying to create integrated  'DROP DOWN' capabilties that allow
programmers to switch languages mid stream to get the best solution. I often
want to respond with SAS solutions, just so R and perl can think about
adding functionality.

ie
  data new;
    set data;
    perl on;
      perl code;
      ...
    perl off;
   sas code;
   .....
   R on;
     R code;
     ....;
   R off;
run;

I am trying to get SAS users to do some of their processing in R(within
SAS). I am toying with a set of tips that show SAS intuitive code beside R
code, so SAS users can become more comfortable with R.

SAS is much more intuitive than R
for instance R 'for' loops with funny '}s' next to the more intuitive SAS
do/ends.

I could expound on the type of problems perl handles better than SAS or R, 
problems R handles better than SAS or perl and problems SAS handles better
than R or perl.
     
              
           


   
           
         
       

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